| Disease Surveillance |
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One of the most important functions of public health practice is disease surveillance, the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on specific health events. Because the impact of both naturally occurring and man-made health threats can clearly affect the health, economy, and political stability of a nation or state, disease surveillance is now recognized for the critical role it plays. Unfortunately, today’s disease surveillance is tragically flawed, due to the imitations of the traditional manual, paper-based reporting systems still utilized worldwide. Reports of diseases to public health authorities are often delayed by weeks after the case is diagnosed, and underreporting rates threaten the abilities of public health officials to effectively identify or respond to emerging health threats. However, the emergence in recent years of electronic medical records (EMRs) and other healthcare IT systems provides the opportunity to transform disease surveillance practice. Orion Health’s Rhapsody Connect is leading the way in this transformation. Based on Orion Health’s industry-leading Rhapsody data integration engine, Rhapsody Connect adds business intelligence and sophisticated public health reporting rules that constantly evaluate clinical, laboratory, imaging, and treatment data. When a report to public health is identified, a standards-based message is securely transmitted automatically. When approval for a public health report is necessary, a pre-populated, secure web form is delivered to the physician, nurse, or appropriate staff person for review, edit, and authorization for reporting to public health. Rhapsody Connect provides targeted public health solutions for laboratory results, case reports, immunization registries, cancer registries, situational awareness (biosurveillance), and other required public health reports. |
